A CRACK IN THE SLAB
VIDEO ESSAY
OVERVIEW
The stealth-action-adventure RPG game Dishonoured 2, a franchise developed by Arkane Studios, features a time-travel level named A Crack in The Slab, a recent favourite for its standout technical and design synergy. Players have previously ventured into sandbox levels to pacify a target, using either incapacitation or elimination. Now, in A Crack in The Slab (ACITS), the dishonoured protagonist seeks out how their antagonist has returned to the world by venturing into a dilapidated manor to observe a ritual which has distorted the local area’s reality. The player’s traditional array of powers they once previously relied upon has been negated by this summoning, forcing them to adopt an entirely new play style. A timepiece is granted to the player, ultimately allowing them to travel from the present day abandoned manor to the inhabited manor in the past, layering both spaces on top of one another.
The timepiece features retractable lens to see into the player’s past or future destination. Despite obscuring the leftmost third of the screen (bordering on information overload) the device becomes instrumental in order to successfully position oneself in an occupiable space in both destinations before activating the timepiece. The AI controlled guards featured in the past can be observed from the present with the timepiece, assisting the player with their chosen stealth approach. These lens will fade to black if the player’s past or future destination is not available to them due to clipping geometry or the player intersects with NPCs, safeguarding the player’s experience.
Dishonored is a sandbox action stealth franchise where the developers favour strong player agency so gating the player’s progress is often abstained. Loot, such as those used to power one’s abilities, is used to incentivise exploration, especially behind time travel puzzles in ACITS. However there are rare instances of this progression gating such as the timepiece device’s introduction as well as its impact on the level. The player begins by travelling a linear path from the front garden to the main hall and music room, inhibited from exploring further than the initial bounds until satisfying their first objective. Upon collecting the timepiece the player is unable to leave the room in the present due falling through the ceiling and the open doors being immediately blocked by even more geometry. In the present, the player must travel just outside of the open doors and then into the past where the doors were locked behind them. The player has ultimately found an overlapping space where the player is locked in the present day music room until they travel to the past in a specific location in order to escape and begin exploring the rest of the level; successfully establishing the mechanic.
Dishonored is a sandbox action stealth franchise where the developers favour strong player agency so gating the player’s progress is often abstained. Loot, such as those used to power one’s abilities, is used to incentivise exploration, especially behind time travel puzzles in ACITS. However there are rare instances of this progression gating such as the timepiece device’s introduction as well as its impact on the level. The player begins by travelling a linear path from the front garden to the main hall and music room, inhibited from exploring further than the initial bounds until satisfying their first objective. Upon collecting the timepiece the player is unable to leave the room in the present due falling through the ceiling and the open doors being immediately blocked by even more geometry. In the present, the player must travel just outside of the open doors and then into the past where the doors were locked behind them. The player has ultimately found an overlapping space where the player is locked in the present day music room until they travel to the past in a specific location in order to escape and begin exploring the rest of the level; successfully establishing the mechanic.
CRITICISMS & ALTERNATIVES
SPACE
A Crack in the Slab succeeds on its micro-permanency, requiring the player to think in a logical 4D maner, layering both the player’s mental models of the map inside of one another. ACITS is not without its faults, which will be discussed shortly, permitting me the opportunity to offer potential alternatives to progress my own design skills. Triple A standard games are subject to feature cuts, deadlines, and technical/design constraints, in order to deliver a complete product at the expense of unexplored ideas. These comments and criticisms acknowledges these points and simply offer my learnings.
While the manor’s north, south, and west wings feature many rooms with plenty of time-travelling content, the manor’s east wing is seldom used for the level’s core mechanic. This is not to devalue the world building or the Non-Player Characters’ (NPC) dialogue amongst each other, but the lack of loot to power one’s abilities discourage a second visit to this wing. The Gallery, Kitchen, and Pool, have little to offer when rewarding the player for exploring and engaging the enemy.
Originally the pool in the present is a heavily infested with blood fly pests of which their nests are commonly dispatched using highly flammable rum, incendiary bolts, or grenades. The room could be redesigned with a damageable valve in the past to cause a leak in the present in order to flood the room of blood fly pests and create a safer passage through this area. To incentivise this approach, no flammable items should be found in this level, only the items brought in from the previous level can be used.
In the present, the main hallway features a large pile of silver dust geometry which not only causes irregular LOS for infected humans in the present but also inhibits players from travelling from the past to the present if standing in the wrong location, enforcing enemy engagements if caught. The gallery above the pool could feature a small window broken in from the outside due to damage from large chunks of silver dust. In the past this window is scheduled to be reinforced by the repairman, so upon the player installing it themselves they will no longer see the dust geometry piling into the main hallway in the present.
Both of these actions, clearing calcified blood fly nests and silver dust geometry, will allow the player to locate a concealed door to the garden, one that safely leads to the level’s target, further incentivising a unique route to through the manor. Notably this a long workaround for the player to reach their target and may not be enough incentivisation.
While the manor’s north, south, and west wings feature many rooms with plenty of time-travelling content, the manor’s east wing is seldom used for the level’s core mechanic. This is not to devalue the world building or the Non-Player Characters’ (NPC) dialogue amongst each other, but the lack of loot to power one’s abilities discourage a second visit to this wing. The Gallery, Kitchen, and Pool, have little to offer when rewarding the player for exploring and engaging the enemy.
Originally the pool in the present is a heavily infested with blood fly pests of which their nests are commonly dispatched using highly flammable rum, incendiary bolts, or grenades. The room could be redesigned with a damageable valve in the past to cause a leak in the present in order to flood the room of blood fly pests and create a safer passage through this area. To incentivise this approach, no flammable items should be found in this level, only the items brought in from the previous level can be used.
In the present, the main hallway features a large pile of silver dust geometry which not only causes irregular LOS for infected humans in the present but also inhibits players from travelling from the past to the present if standing in the wrong location, enforcing enemy engagements if caught. The gallery above the pool could feature a small window broken in from the outside due to damage from large chunks of silver dust. In the past this window is scheduled to be reinforced by the repairman, so upon the player installing it themselves they will no longer see the dust geometry piling into the main hallway in the present.
Both of these actions, clearing calcified blood fly nests and silver dust geometry, will allow the player to locate a concealed door to the garden, one that safely leads to the level’s target, further incentivising a unique route to through the manor. Notably this a long workaround for the player to reach their target and may not be enough incentivisation.
MECHANISM
The timepiece offers the unique ability to stand in full view of the guards without being spotted. In previous levels, NPCs would chase and hunt the protagonist if found so encouraging safe enemy engagement has been a learned behaviour. Players will seek out refuge space atop balconies, inside bins, and vantage points in order to retreat back to a concealed state. Now the player can engage an enemy in the past and immediately disappear to the present where they’re safer due to refuge space never far from reach. As the player’s left-hand, or second ability slot, is almost occupied by the timepiece device, reacting to enemy engagements requires a simple button press to flee the scene; heavily disrupting the micro game loop by shortening.
Travelling through time is an ability the player can call upon at any given time to suit their needs and fulfill a unique power fantasy. What would happen if this ability was localised to temporal portals located at various points throughout the map. These portals would occupy a suitably sized, clear window into your destination, unseen by enemy AI but viewable by the player from any angle (acting like a player rotating billboard) that cannot be seen by enemy AI. The player will travel to their destination upon simply walking towards these portals and pressing a button on their controller (similarly to the VR stealth game Budget Cuts).
The player’s left-hand would be freed, allowing the player to more easily swap between weaponry and react to enemy engagements like in previous levels. The AI’s navigation and Line of Sight (LOS) would need to be re-evaluated to ensure that a player’s entry into an engagement through a temporal portal/rift isn’t always being observed and doesn’t forfeit their visibility. However, interesting level design could exercise this rule. The heavy enemy presence in the main hall could always be observing the room's temporal portal at any given time, encouraging the player to approach the main hall through other rooms in order to diminish the number of enemies present in the area. These rift’s could even afford a roaming portal which travels along a preset path in order to further occlude enemy information over time whilst the portal and the enemy no longer has LOS on one another.
Travelling through time is an ability the player can call upon at any given time to suit their needs and fulfill a unique power fantasy. What would happen if this ability was localised to temporal portals located at various points throughout the map. These portals would occupy a suitably sized, clear window into your destination, unseen by enemy AI but viewable by the player from any angle (acting like a player rotating billboard) that cannot be seen by enemy AI. The player will travel to their destination upon simply walking towards these portals and pressing a button on their controller (similarly to the VR stealth game Budget Cuts).
The player’s left-hand would be freed, allowing the player to more easily swap between weaponry and react to enemy engagements like in previous levels. The AI’s navigation and Line of Sight (LOS) would need to be re-evaluated to ensure that a player’s entry into an engagement through a temporal portal/rift isn’t always being observed and doesn’t forfeit their visibility. However, interesting level design could exercise this rule. The heavy enemy presence in the main hall could always be observing the room's temporal portal at any given time, encouraging the player to approach the main hall through other rooms in order to diminish the number of enemies present in the area. These rift’s could even afford a roaming portal which travels along a preset path in order to further occlude enemy information over time whilst the portal and the enemy no longer has LOS on one another.
PLAYER AGENCY
The level’s target is effectively the secondary objective to the player as all protagonist needs to do is collect information from the targets near vicinity (forcing some kind of engagement that will lead to pacification or elimination). Ultimately understanding how the antagonist returned to this world is the player’s primary focus.
Once the manor’s owner has been dispatched, the present will be “restored” from its dilapidated state. If eliminated, the manor will change owners; if pacified, then the original owner will still be alive in the present, but located elsewhere in the in-game world for the remainder of the level. To continue fostering player agency, the manor’s target could still be located in the manor in the restored present for the player to decide whether the target really should be eliminated, not pacified, if the player changes their mind to further serve the player’s agency. The protagonist would justify this to themselves because the target assisted in the summoning of the game’s end antagonist, and consequently many deaths. Ergo the target should be held accountable for their actions, regardless of how hesitant and sympathizable the level’s target was in the summoning based on what’s overheard from in-game NPC dialogue. The consequence of this assassination would need to be reinforced again through in-game dialogue in the subsequent level.
Once the manor’s owner has been dispatched, the present will be “restored” from its dilapidated state. If eliminated, the manor will change owners; if pacified, then the original owner will still be alive in the present, but located elsewhere in the in-game world for the remainder of the level. To continue fostering player agency, the manor’s target could still be located in the manor in the restored present for the player to decide whether the target really should be eliminated, not pacified, if the player changes their mind to further serve the player’s agency. The protagonist would justify this to themselves because the target assisted in the summoning of the game’s end antagonist, and consequently many deaths. Ergo the target should be held accountable for their actions, regardless of how hesitant and sympathizable the level’s target was in the summoning based on what’s overheard from in-game NPC dialogue. The consequence of this assassination would need to be reinforced again through in-game dialogue in the subsequent level.
SUMMARY
ACITS offers more than just its geometry and scripting; requiring the player to evolve their mental mapping skills further than a proceeding level named The Clockwork Manor, where dynamic maps changes are more overt.
This level could only survive as a singular titular chapter within the game due to the bespoke puzzles being utilised sparingly in order to retain novelty. Tutorializing the timepiece device was undoubtedly difficult without heavy-handed UI elements, but this enabled the strong game and level design synergy from which to highlight a memorable chapter in the Dishonoured franchise. With further idea exploration, development time, and the few learnings this article offers, this level could award an even stronger experience on top of an already rich adventure.
This level could only survive as a singular titular chapter within the game due to the bespoke puzzles being utilised sparingly in order to retain novelty. Tutorializing the timepiece device was undoubtedly difficult without heavy-handed UI elements, but this enabled the strong game and level design synergy from which to highlight a memorable chapter in the Dishonoured franchise. With further idea exploration, development time, and the few learnings this article offers, this level could award an even stronger experience on top of an already rich adventure.